The One Thing I Never Needed
by Semei-yuukei
Summary: Red's always been content with his life on the mountain- a life of isolation and perpetual snow. Then, a young trainer comes along and strips him of the title of Champion, and Red's life is turned upside down. A new pang of loneliness awakes in him, and, crushed by his defeat, he decides to return to society. That is, until Green arrives on Mt Silver. Gameverse, RedxGreen.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

Thousands of metres above the ground and hundreds of miles from the northeast of Pallet Town, a black haired boy sits at the peak of a freezing mountain, his clothes wet with snow. Absentmindedly, he lifts a thin hand and strokes the slumbering yellow mouse cozied up in his lap. As he stares into the distance, he attempts a sigh- but all that comes out is a hoarse grunt, his voice scratchy from neglect and disuse. He instead sighs with the only way he knows now, with the dimming of his red eyes and a heavy drop of his shoulders. He gingerly cradles the sleeping Pikachu and gets up, shuffling back towards his cave with a weariness that his former self would never have had.

Red can't remember the last time he's been in human company. It seemed to him that this mountain and the constant blizzard had always been- something that was endless and unrelenting. As he cranes his head in thought, he wonders if he can even remember sunshine and heat, or how his mother looked on Saturday mornings when she made pancakes and omelettes for him. All that consumes his thoughts these days was the confident, golden eyed boy who had approached him several weeks ago, claiming he was Johto's new League Champion and asking for a battle. Red remembered wondering if this cocky newcomer had a death wish, and had gone into battle expecting an easy victory. After all, it wouldn't have been the first time a challenger had climbed the mountain, called himself unbeatable, and was trounced in five minutes flat.

Then this young hotshot had wiped out all his pokemon within fifteen minutes, leaving many of them with severe wounds and stripping him of his title as the ultimate champion.

Red hadn't known what to do with himself. For this young trainer had stripped him of not only his title, but also his honour, pride, and self-respect. For weeks afterward, he had slacked on his training and slipped into a listless state, unable to come to terms with his defeat. He had patched up his pokemon as best as he could, but he lacked the skills and medicine to heal them correctly. As a result, several of them still had marks of deep gashes across their backs, or walked with limps, or had come down with fevers. Of course he had considered going back to society and taking them to a Pokemon Centre, but how was he supposed to tell everyone that he, the invincible Red, had lost? He laughed humorlessly, but no sound came out.

Red hung his head and sat down heavily on the floor of his cave, taking a tattered blanket off a makeshift shelf and wrapping the yellow rodent firmly in it. After making sure Pikachu was comfortable, he took the other pokeballs from his waist and turned them over and over, accessing them. Burn marks, splotches of dried blood, dents and claw marks adorned them- and the pokemon inside were in no better condition. Was that really the same strong, triumphant team that had proudly strode into the Hall of Fame after defeating the Elite Four? These pokemon were wrecks- dishevelled, wounded and haggard version of their former selves. Red knew of the pain they were in every moment of the day, and his conscience smote him as he thought of all the suffering they endured for him.

_Maybe I should get off this mountain_, he thought. After all, without his title, without his pride as a trainer, without his honour, he was nothing. What more could the mountain hold for him?

_I'll go back tomorrow_, he continued_. I'll stay with Green or Leaf for a few days to rest the pokemon, and then I'll go back to Pallet Town._

Thinking of Green and Leaf, his two best friends, gave him a strange ache in his chest. A pang of longing. His dim memory conjours up images of the three of them as kids, swearing they'd be the best trainers Kanto had ever seen. Pictures of them in Oak's lab, battling each other with their newly obtained pokemon, fill his head. He remembers the sound of Green's young, arrogant voice, declaring that he'd surpass Red for sure. But he brushes away the memories, lays back on the floor of the cave, and shuts his eyes.

As Red is about to drift off to sleep, a familiar voice pierces the night.

"Red?! Where the hell are you?!"

The voice is muffled and vastly overpowered by the blizzard, but Red caught it.

"Red?"

"It's Green!"

For a moment, Red bolts upright and peers outside the cave, a tiny shimmer of excitement lighting his dull eyes. Then, he drops his eyes and lays back on the floor, curling himself into a ball.

_It's just another hallucination_, Red tells himself. _Go to sleep. It'll be gone in the morning._

The last thing Red remembers before he drops off to sleep is a dark shadow carrying a furry brown bundle, blocking the mouth of the cave.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

Red's eyes slowly flutter open, blurry with weariness and lack of sleep. Beside him, Pikachu curls up in a miserable little ball, shivering from the cold despite being wrapped up tightly in warm blankets. It moans occasionally, cringing from the pain of long unhealed wounds and scars. Surveying the suffering pokemon at his side, Red once again feels a stab of guilt- guilt for what he had made his trusted friend and partner endure. He knew he had to go back, because sooner or later, his pokemon would die from the pain of their untreated injuries. Lying on his side, he contemplates what things people would whisper behind his back if he suddenly returned in this condition.

"_That's the famous Red? Huh, his pokemon's covered with wounds. I thought he was supposed to be unbeatable."_

"_Red's a joke. He trains himself stupid on a mountain for three years, and then Ethan goes up there and trounces him within less than an hour."_

"_What, that's the boy who supposedly beat the Elite Four three years ago? Look at him! He's nothing special."_

"_So much for being the Champion. He's a shadow of his former self. Even Ethan's far better than him now."_

He shifts restlessly as he ponders over these things, miserably aware that these comments he imagined people would say might prove true. No one had seen him for years, after all. The buzz he'd created and the fame he'd achieved from becoming the Kanto Champion was sure to have died down. Reporters had stopped attempting to ascend the mountain to pester him for interviews, and the magazines he'd picked up from his last trip down to a city had featured dozens of talented up-and-coming trainers who had replaced him. Lyra, May, Brendan, Dawn, Lucas …who were these people? Why hasn't he heard of them before? How much had he missed during the three years he was away?

As he groggily sits up and rubs the sleep out of his eyes, his eyes fall on the clean, fluffy quilt that covers him, as well as the soft pillow that'd been placed beneath his head. Strange. He'd never brought either of these things up the mountain, instead substituting folded sheets as pillows and tattered rags as blankets. There was no point bringing better quality things up Mt Silver, anyway, since they would have been thoroughly worn out by the blizzard and harsh conditions. What, then, would explain why these things were here?

As he stares quizzically at the items, the tantalising smell of sausages and bacon wafts by, tempting him. He cranes his neck, sniffing the air, and realises that he recognises the delicious scent. _I'm hallucinating, _he decides. _Why else would I be smelling food that smells like Mom's cooking?_

His eyes drift towards the direction of the smell. There, heating above the small fire he'd made the night before, sat a plate of sizzling hot breakfast, exactly like how his mom used to make it. Red doesn't care who brought it or how it'd got there. Five minutes later, the hot plate rests between his cold blue fingers and he's wolfing it down as fast as he can.

"You're finally awake. Welcome back to the world of the living, you idiot."

Red jumps at the sound of the voice, looks up mid-bite, and freezes. Someone is coming towards him from the depths of the cave. Red peers into the gloom, trying to make out the person walking towards him. Something about the voice is oddly familiar…

"What, you don't recognise me anymore? Huh. I expected better from you."

The person emerges from the cave, revealing a guy with a mop of spiky brown hair, wearing a black leather hoodie and brown cargo pants. An Eevee skips around by his side, looking lovingly up at its beloved trainer. The trainer stops in front of Red, looking down at him with a cocky smile.

"Long time no see, Red," he grins.

As Red stares up at the confident young trainer, his eyes glaze over and his hand trembles. Here was someone that he's known half his life, and the person he trusted the most. The one who'd spurred him on and encouraged at every turn, and the guy he'd fought that last triumphant battle with. For the first time in months, words come out of Red's mouth.

"Green."

.

.

.

.

Ten minutes later, Green is sitting by Red's side, cradling Eevee in his lap as he watches Red shove down his breakfast.

"You look like you haven't eaten in months," he remarked, cocking an eyebrow at the small raven-haired boy. Beside him, Pikachu has awoken and gazes up at the food as well with hungry eyes, sniffing the air wistfully. Noticing this, Eevee bounds to Green's bag that he'd left in a corner of the cave, roots through it, and scurries back with a container filled with pokemon food. Almost frantically, Pikachu gobbles down the food with the same animosity as its trainer, wincing a little every once in a while from its injuries.

Finishing the last of his food, the former champion looks up at Green with expressionless red eyes, heavy with dark eye circles and lack of sleep. He stares at him in a hopeless manner that Green finds rather disconcerting, then manages to croak out a few more words. "Did you cook this for me?"

Green snorts. "No. I passed by your house and told your mom I'd be coming to find you. She was worried about you and made all this stuff, begging me to take it up to you. She asked me to pass along a message to you, that she wants you to stop your training for a while and go home." He paused for a while, searching Red's face, but once again doesn't manage to detect any emotions from the boy. Sighing, he nodded in the direction of the pillow and quilt strewn on the floor, and continues speaking. "I brought those up for you too. You're lucky that that Ethan guy mentioned your poor living conditions in that magazine interview of his, when reporters asked him about how you were doing, or I'd never have come up here. And Red, to be honest…" he breaks off, and his eyes flicker with a hint of something Red can't quite identify. "You look worse than he described."

Red stares at him again, but doesn't respond. His hand falls on Pikachu's head, and he looks down at the floor. Green surveys him for a minute, trying to decipher his thoughts, then gives up. He knows from experience that unless Red himself tells you what's on his mind, it's almost impossible to figure it out yourself. But on closer inspection, he notices many things that he'd failed to notice before- burn marks, scars, and bloodied bandages. He observes the way Red's shoulders sag, the heaviness of his body, as well as something in those eyes that he'd never seen before- defeat. Clearly, Red had been through a lot these three years, and he'd had to go through it alone. During these three years, Red had had no one to support him but himself.

"Red," Green ventures, gazing at his friend. "What the hell happened to you?"

To his surprise, Red lowers his eyes and turns his head away, gazing hopelessly into the distance. After a moment of silence, he mutters two brief words that Green almost doesn't catch. "I lost."

For a moment, Green is stunned, unable to process what Red has just said. Red lost to someone? It couldn't be possible. Red can't lose to anyone. All his life, he'd respected Red and seen him as an irreplaceable friend- but also someone he'd never live up to. Even when they'd both started out as trainers, Green had known from the beginning that he'd never be better than him, destined to always stand in his shadow. That was precisely why he'd always tried so hard to best him, and do anything in his power to stay one step ahead of him- he'd wanted Red to notice him, and admire Green like how Green admired Red. But Red had never looked up to Green. He'd taken the Championship title away from him before he could even blink, leaving him with nothing but empty dreams and ambitions. Green had always comforted himself with the fact that at least, if even he lost to Red, no one else would be able to beat his friend. Red was supposed to be undefeatable. A god.

But then, apparently, even gods could be defeated and replaced.

"What?" he said stupidly, staring at the boy. "That's… that's impossible. You're Red, the undisputed Champion of Kanto. You can't lose."

"That's what I thought, too," Red whispers, gazing listlessly into the fire. His Pikachu crawls up beside him and nuzzles against him in an attempt to comfort him, but he barely notices.

"Is that…is that why your pokemon all look like this?" Green says in disbelief.

Red doesn't say anything. But he doesn't need to. His very silence and body language confirms Green's fears. For a moment, neither of them speaks, both unsure where to go from there.

Green stared at Red, unable to believe what the boy had become. Red wasn't supposed to be this sad, miserable creature moping in front of him. He was silent, yes, but he wasn't supposed to look so hopeless and defeated. Red was a Champion. In Green's eyes, he would always be the unbeatable Champion. To see that a simple loss had dragged Red down this much, to see the way Red stared ahead of him in such an empty manner… inside him, Green felt a surge of emotion rising up, almost at the brink of eruption. Angrily, he got to his feet and glared down at his black-haired friend.

"So that's it? One defeat, and you're just going to give up and rot to death on this mountain?" he demands, staring daggers down at Red. When Red doesn't reply, his anger escalates, and he finds himself grabbing Red's shoulders.

"Look at yourself, Red! You used to be so strong and confident, and now you've turned into this. I leave you alone by yourself for three years, and you run off to this mountain and almost kill yourself. Do you have any idea how much you worried your mom, worried Leaf? Do you have any idea how much you worried _me?_ None of us had any idea if you were doing okay or not. We didn't even know if you were alive. I wouldn't have found out where you were if Leaf hadn't mentioned reading about you in Ethan's magazine interview. And now I can't even recognise you anymore. What happened to the guy who I swore I'd beat, huh? What happened to guy who'd defeated the Elite Four? Where's the guy who I looked up to, who's the only one I was unable to defeat? _What happened to you, Red?_"

In the heat of the moment, Green slammed Red against the wall, searching his eyes desperately for any trace of the boy he used to know. As they crashed against the cave wall together, Red's eyes widened at his friend's outburst. Green had never snapped at him like that before. In all their time together, Green had never shown much indication that he cared about his friend, instead preferring to communicate his affection through snarky words and hidden implications. Now, pressed up against the wall and being so close to green for the first time, Red understood exactly how much Green had cared for him all this while. For the first time, Red also understood something else that he'd failed to see for a long time.

He cared about Green, too.

"So? What the hell happened to you, huh?" Green repeats fiercely, locking his eyes with Red's and tightening his grip.

Red lifts his head and looks back into Green's emerald eyes, but doesn't respond.

Instead, he leans forward and kisses him.


End file.
